Jay Allen thought the mole on his ankle was harmless, even when it scabbed up and began to bleed.

It had been there his whole life, but in 2007 the truck driver made a trip to the doctor, at his wife's urging.

The doctor was immediately alarmed, tests were done, and a couple of days later Mr Allen was told that the mole was a 1.95mm-deep melanoma.

"I'm really lucky I listened to my wife because she certainly did save my life," he said.

"It's changed my whole life, I was petrified, you know I was really scared."

Mr Allen was forced to undergo two operations as well as chemotherapy, and now has to have check-ups every six months for 10 years.

Now in a new community awareness job for Melanoma Institute Australia, Mr Allen and fellow melanoma survivor Andrew Rust are undertaking a mammoth fundraising effort by walking from Sydney to Melbourne.

On Tuesday the two men were making the journey from Benalla to Euroa in Victoria's north-east, with their '900km For A Cure' crew.

Mr Allen urged people to be sunsmart - a message he ignored in his youth by spending hours in solarium beds.

After his diagnosis, he became a vocal member of the successful push to ban solariums in Australia.

While he and Mr Rust are now free of cancer, Mr Allen said 16 of his friends had died from melanoma in the last 6 years.

"If you see us on the side of the road just beep your horn or come and say hi," he said.

"Everyone on our crew has been affected by melanoma."

The team will finish their journey by walking onto the Melbourne Cricket Ground before the Sydney-Hawthorn AFL match on July 26th.